November 28, 2013

Be Thankful: For a Farmer.

Today, is a day of rest... a day of Thanksgiving for most people. It's a day to eat, sleep, and watch football and a day to spend with extended family. It's a day to go out and play, scour shopping ads for Black Friday sales, and rave about the best dessert Aunt Betty made. It's a beautiful day.

So, as you enjoy your dinner, think about each item you put on your plate. +Think about the turkey grower that spent hours feeding and taking care of his birds..making sure that there would be plenty of turkey to go around this holiday...254 millions turkeys were raised last year. Did you eat one?+Think about the farmer growing thousands of acres of corn to feed the animals and to put corn on our plates. +Think about the cranberry sauce and the amount of energy it took to make the perfect berry...768 million pounds of cranberries were harvested to make that delicious side dish.+Think about the pumpkin pie and the 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins grown to fill the millions of cans of pumpkin used this Thanksgiving.+Think about the dairy farmers that woke up at 4:30 each morning to milk, and those that stayed up late one night to help a calf be born...just so we could have sticks of butter and the richest whipped cream.+Think about the number of hands it took to plant and harvest the 1.9 billion pounds of green beans...that's a lot of veggies.+Think about the apple pie and how many years the farmer has nurtured his/her trees to get their first crop of fruit.Think about it. Where would you be without agriculture? Often, I like to tell people that you would be naked and hungry...and when you really take the time to think about it, it's true. Without a farmer, you would not be able to enjoy what you have today.So, today, volunteer to say grace before the meal and thank the farmer that grew it and the hands that prepared it. He would appreciate it.